This Loving Land Read Online Free PDF Page A

day!”
    The whiskered cowboy shook his head. “A dollar! Wal, now . . . Did he want to take his pay out in trade, Sadie?”
    The girl nodded.
    Summer looked from one to the other. Of course Bulldog would know who she was. There weren’t that many women in town that Sadie would go unnoticed.
    “I’ll be back fer ya.” Slamming his dusty hat down hard on his head, the cowboy gathered up two armloads of boxes.
    The trip from the room to the wagon in front of the hotel went smoothly. The hotel man wasn’t at the desk, and when Summer asked about him, Bulldog spit contemptuously into the dirt.
    The sun was only half an hour above the horizon when their light wagon rolled to a halt in front of the store and the pile of supplies stacked on the loading dock. Hangers-on called out good naturedly to Bulldog as he lifted the heavy bags and boxes onto the wagon bed.
    Since leaving the hotel, Sadie had relaxed, and her lips were tilted continuously in a smile. Summer was immensely glad for her presence. The two children stood behind them, watching all that was going on with large, excited eyes.
    “I’m glad you’re with me!” Summer clasped Sadie’s hand.
    “Yo’re glad! Oh, Jesus Christ . . . Oh, I mean . . . I still can’t believe we’re out of that . . . place. I’ll work hard, miss. I’ll work my fingers to the bone!”
    “You’ll do nothing of the kind. We’ll work together. And for Pete’s sake, call me Summer.”
    “I ort to be a callin’ you angel, that’s what I ort to do!”
    At the sound of Summer’s laughter, the loafers in front of the store all turned their heads in unison to look at the lovely, raven-haired girl. She had piled her hair in a loose knot on top of her head because of the heat, and curly tendrils floated about her face and clung to the nape of her neck. The dark cotton dress she wore set off her violet eyes, and with the flush of excitement spreading over her fair skin, she was quite beautiful. But she was completely unaware of the picture she made, and the eyes that couldn’t seem to look away from her, as she held out her sunbonnet to Sadie.
    “I’ll be right back, John Austin. Sadie, don’t let him get out of the wagon. After you know him better, you’ll understand why. I’m going to get us some garden seed.”
    Summer paused in the doorway of the store to allow her eyes to adjust from the bright sunlight to the darkened interior. It was filled to capacity with goods needed to sustain life on the vast cattle ranches that surrounded the town. Barrels of flour, sugar, salt pork and cornmeal crowded the aisles; jugs, tools, baskets, rope and harnesses hung from the rafters. Her eyes settled on a table of bright yard goods, and as she walked toward it she passed behind a man counting out a stack of silver dollars to the store clerk.
    The man was very tall, whiplash thin, but with broad shoulders and long arms. His dark hat was pulled low, the broad brim shielding his face, and a long, thin cheroot in his mouth trailed a waft of not-unpleasant smoke. His clothes were dark and free of dust, and against his thigh rested a holstered gun. But Summer wasn’t aware of these impressions until later. She was only dimly aware that the man stopped clinking the silver until she passed him.
    After looking over the yard goods and thinking how nice it would be if she could afford to buy the blue for herself, the green for Sadie and the sunny yellow for Mary, she put the thought from her mind and moved to the now-vacated counter.
    “Mornin’, miss.” A youngish clerk with a large Adam’s apple, which rose and fell as he spoke, stood wiping his hands on a once-white apron.
    “Morning. How much are the seeds?”
    “The seeds? Oh . . . they’re ten cents for this scoop.”
    “Ten cents?” Disappointment and uncertainty tinged her voice. “You’d pay two cents for that scoop back in the Piney Woods where I come from. Ten cents, you said? Well . . . give me a scoop full of bean, beet,